NATO chief holds talks in TurkeyAnkara (AFP) April 4, 2011 -
NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen met with Turkish officials on Monday as an envoy of Moamer Kadhafi arrived in Ankara for talks on a possible ceasefire in conflict-torn Libya.
Rasmussen held talks behind closed doors with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a meeting attended also by Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Defence Minister Vecdi Gonul.
He had further talks with Davutoglu before wrapping up his visit.
"We place great importance on the continuation of efficient NATO efforts... to secure the safety of Libyans, the normalisation of the situation in Libya and an end to attacks on civilians," Davutoglu told reporters after the meeting.
"We reviewed the efforts over the past week... and also Turkey's efforts for humanitarian assistance to Libya," he said.

In the meantime, Libya's Deputy Foreign Minister Abdelati Laabidi arrived in Ankara to seek Turkish help for a possible ceasefire with opposition forces.
"Both sides have told us that they have certain thoughts on a ceasefire. We will talk to the two sides and see whether there is any common ground," a senior Turkish diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.
NATO took full control of Libyan operations on Thursday, replacing a US-led coalition that had been conducting air raids since March 19.
Turkey, NATO's sole predominantly Muslim member and a key regional player, had slammed the strikes, vowing to "never point a gun at the Libyan people."

On March 24, the Turkish parliament approved the dispatch of six naval vessels to a NATO patrol mission in Libyan waters as the Islamist-rooted government moved reluctantly to join the military campaign.
Davutoglu said a Turkish ferry that took wounded Libyans from Misrata and Benghazi was on its way to Turkey, expected to arrive late Tuesday at the Aegean port of Izmir.
It carried about 475 people, including about 350 Libyans who are to receive medical treatment in Turkey, relatives accompanying them as well as several dozen Turks and foreigners who requested evacuation from Libya, he said.
Three Turkish military cargo planes were to fly to Benghazi Monday and Tuesday to take medical equipment "to set up a field hospital there to treat wounded people who cannot be transported here," he added.

by Staff WritersBrussels (AFP) April 4, 2011 NATO will depend on Europe's aerial firepower to keep up momentum in the mission to protect civilians in Libya when the US military withdraws into a backup role later Monday, officials said.

The United States has conducted half of around 70 daily air bombing missions against Moamer Kadhafi's ground forces during the campaign, but US fighter jets will pull out of the frontline within hours, NATO officials said.

US President Barack Obama, whose troops are already facing the brunt of the fighting in the NATO-led war in Afghanistan, has been in a hurry to wind down US operations in Libya and move to a support role to the 28-nation alliance.

The US military had planned to stop its air missions and Tomahawk missile launches at the weekend but it accepted a NATO request to continue the operations for another 48 hours until Monday.

"To make up for the American assets that will leave, the other countries will have to multiply their sorties and open up more ammunition," a military official told AFP.

Since NATO took command of operations on March 31, alliance warplanes have conducted 276 strike missions, although planes did not necessarily drop their payload during every flight, according to official figures.

"The NATO mission, which is to protect civilians, remains the same, regardless of the role of this or that ally, however big it may be," a NATO diplomat said.

Before NATO took over, the United States led the international coalition along with France and Britain that began bombing Libyan tanks and artillery in a UN-mandated mission to protect civilians from the regime.

The Libyan army's fixed installations were obliterated by US Tomahawk missiles that rained down on the regime in the first 10 days of the operation, the military source said.

After the United States withdraws around 40 attack planes, NATO can count on scores of jets from other member nations to continue the ground strikes. The US will provide surveillance, jamming and refuelling aircraft instead.

"We are quite confident that we have the flexibility and depth of contributions to adjust despite the fact that the US is changing its force posture," a NATO official said.

With around 20 and half a dozen attack planes respectively, France and Britain will likely carry the bulk of the load after US jets are grounded.

French jets have conducted between a fifth and a quarter of daily sorties, while the British have taken part in one in 10 missions, a NATO diplomat said.

The head of the Royal Air Force (RAF), Air Chief Marshal Stephen Dalton, told The Guardian newspaper that British warplanes are likely to play a role in the no-fly zone over Libya for at least six months.

The five other nations participating in bombing missions -- Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Italy and Norway -- use around 30 warplanes in total.

More NATO nations are taking part in two other missions, policing a no-fly zone to prevent Kadhafi's warplanes from flying and an arms embargo to stop suspect ships from bringing weapons and mercenaries into Libya.

"Every ally, in particular those who take part in few strikes, will have to pick up the tempo," the military official said.

Militants warn Israel after three Hamas men killedGaza City (AFP) April 2, 2011 Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on Saturday denied that three of its militants killed in a Gaza air strike were plotting to kidnap Israelis and warned of "consequences".
And as thousands of Gazans marched in funeral processions for the three men, fellow militant group Islamic Jihad reiterated warnings that a tacit truce with Israel depended on the Jewish state ceasing its raids on the terri ... read more

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